A celebration of continuity and new energy 

From the guest appearance of SDGHI’s founding director, Professor Michael Merson, to the fresh perspectives shared by Duke-NUS student leaders, this townhall captured the spirit of continuity and renewal. 

The afternoon opened with snapshots of the first quarter’s highlights- the inaugural Asia-Pacific Global Health Innovation Hackathon, the Global Mental Health in Asia Symposium and the launch of our third Regional Collaborating Centre in Hanoi. These initiatives signalled the team’s expanding regional reach and its ability to mobilise innovation and capacity at scale. Each effort was a reminder that global health today is not just about where we work—it’s about how we work, and with whom.  

SIRAEC: training surgeons for Asia’s forgotten frontiers  

Highlighting on the ground stories, Clinical Assistant Professor Foo Fung Joon, Senior Consultant General Surgery (Colorectal) Sengkang General Hospital introduced the Surgery in Rural and Austere Environments Course (SIRAEC). Developed by a consortium of four Academic Clinical Programmes, the course trains surgeons to operate in resource-limited settings across Asia—places where the lack of basic surgical access can have life-and-death consequences. 

“Through this programme, we aim to equip 450 surgeons across 12 countries by 2030,” shared Clin Asst Prof Foo. The course’s unique approach blends surgical versatility, peer mentorship, and on-site cadaveric dissection to simulate real-world conditions. Future iterations are set to run not just in Singapore, but eventually in Nepal, Sarawak, and Taiwan—forming a distributed network of regional training hubs. 

Project Dove: students taking flight in global health  

Next up, the audience heard from the passionate student team behind Project Dove, a long-running overseas medical initiative led by Duke-NUS students. This year’s teams worked in Sri Lanka and Nepal, focusing on health education, community screenings, and collaborative learning with local partners.

L Krishaa, Project Director for Sri Lanka, reflected on the eye-opening experience of working in neurodevelopmental clinics and learning from traditional and psychiatric healthcare providers. “We realised that health priorities are shaped not just by medical need, but by lived realities,” she said.  

Adding a vital allied health perspective, Ms Goh Siew Li, a speech therapist from KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, spoke about the value of interprofessional collaboration. “Good healthcare is like a symphony orchestra—each professional brings their unique expertise, working in harmony to serve patients,” she shared. Siew Li co-developed a basic communication workshop for Sri Lankan educators, strengthening the capacity to support children with special needs.